Assistant Director for Research and Strategy, Center Analysis — or Washingto

Assistant Director for Research and Strategy, Center for China Analysis — New York or Washington, D.C.

Title:

Assistant Director for Research and Strategy

Location:

New York or Washington, D.C.
Department:
Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis

Reports to:

Director for Research and Strategy
Type:
Full-Time, Temporary, Grant-funded with an estimated end date of June 30, 2027

Schedule:

40 hours/week
FLSA Status:
Exempt
Salary Range: $65,, Benefits Eligible

The Center for China Analysis (CCA) is part of the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), a think‑and‑do‑tank with a policy‑solving mandate that tackles major policy challenges confronting the Asia‑Pacific in security and diplomacy; trade, investment, and innovation; climate and energy; and society, technology, and public health.
Established in 2022, CCA is committed to decoding China’s complexities with an "inside‑out" approach by offering evidence‑based, independent, and policy‑relevant analyses with a balanced, holistic, and human‑centered focus, covering Chinese domestic politics; economy and technology; foreign policy and national security; climate, energy and the environment; society, public health, and education.

The Assistant Director will serve as a key internal leader, helping to manage and implement the Center’s research agenda, editorial workflow, and staff development. This role is designed for someone who can work closely with the Director of Research and Strategy to provide operational continuity, editorial oversight, and strategic coordination across research teams. It is both managerial and content‑focused — well‑suited to a proactive individual who can ensure quality, coherence, and efficiency in partnership with senior leadership.

• Support the Director of Research and Strategy in executing the center‑wide research agenda and ensuring alignment across thematic research pillars.
• Along with the Director of Research and Strategy, coordinate internal team meetings, research agenda meetings and research staff meetings; track follow‑through and deliverables.
• Support the Director of Research and Strategy to assess risks, sensitivity checks, and the upsides/benefits of op‑eds, research projects, issue papers, reports and other public‑facing outputs.
• Support the Director of Research and Strategy and Assistant Director of Operations and Strategy in finalizing contracts and agreements with non‑resident fellows and other research affiliates.
• Monitor and support execution of high‑impact research projects (e.g., issue papers, policy reports, research projects, interactive websites, webinar series, etc.), ensuring policy relevance, capacity, resource alignment, funding potential, and strategic coherence.
• Serve as a resource for research staff, guiding them on process, standards, and project management.

• Lead first‑line content and editorial review processes for all major CCA publications (reports, briefs, op‑eds, and other contributions/outputs).
• Ensure content meets the highest standards of analytical clarity and coherence, and work with our editorial staff to ensure adherence to CCA’s editorial guidelines and standards.
• With the Director of Research and Strategy, oversee and support the production of digital content, including webinars, videos, podcasts, Substack posts, blogs, interactive websites and infographics in coordination with the communications team.
• Maintain and enforce editorial guidelines across teams.
• Manage the internal editorial pipeline and ensure timely progress toward publication deadlines.
• Work with staff on improving the clarity, consistency, and analytic rigor of their written work.

• Manage day‑to‑day coordination of research assistants, associates, and junior staff; provide guidance on task prioritization and time management.
• Serve as a first‑line reviewer for papers and reports; serve as mentor to early‑career staff working on content development.
• Help onboard new research staff and maintain consistent internal processes and communication channels.
• I…